Why does my Domain Name need Privacy Protection?

What does Privacy Protection Actually Do?

Privacy Protection (or ID Protection) is related to the access of your personal information and data online by third parties, usually for the purpose of aggressive marketing tactics.

To avoid the potential of security risks, accessing our confidential and financial information, or merely to avoid being harassed by scam organizations, protecting your privacy is hugely important. 

There is a large scale when it comes to your privacy and what you choose to share, but the key point to note here is that the issue is choice. 

You will have probably noticed that recently when you access any website, you will need to agree to cookies. These are directly related to your privacy because they track your movement online. With recent changes to legislation, this is more important than ever. 

However, if you have a website and own a domain name, things aren’t quite as easy as clicking a button to approve or reject whether someone can access your information.

What happens if you don’t protect your privacy?

When you purchase a domain name, that ‘domain name record’ is a public record, meaning that anybody has access to it. This list is then accessible by (usually) aggressive marketing services that can freely access your contact information using something called a “Whois” service.

You can think of this in pretty much the same way as you would want to generate an email list for marketing purposes. 

Believe it or not, there are even services that harvest your personal information from the Public Whois Record and sell it directly to marketing firms! Hackers can also pose as legitimate businesses over email so that your employees will open a fake email which can compromise your data. 

When you don’t have Domain Name Privacy Protection, all of your contact information is public. This means that your name, address, email, and phone number are all exposed. And I’m sure you already know who is on the lookout for this valuable information… you guessed it! It’s marketing firms, scanners, spammers, and other types of fraudsters. 

It can also potentially turn into a huge problem if you are working within highly competitive markets. Your domain name registration can be used by your competitors to gain an insight into how your business operates. Depending on your position in the market, it can potentially harm your market share. 

As with any form of identity theft, it should be taken seriously and a strong consideration when you are registering your domain name.

How Privacy Protection works

At KartHost, our ID Privacy Protection is handled by a third-party company called PrivacyProtect.org based out of Massachusetts, USA. Here is a simplified visual explanation of what they do:

What PrivacyProtect.org does is mask your personal information with their business so that they can observe and block all unwanted marketing and potential attacks that would otherwise be coming your way. 

Think of it as a security guard for your business!

We recommend using Privacy Protection on all personal domain names that will allow them. 

Unfortunately, there is a list of domain name extensions (TLD’s) that are not allowed Privacy Protection as an option, and they are .US, .CA (available for individuals, not businesses), .AM, .ASIA, .DE, .EU, .FM, .IN, .IT, .JOBS, .MS, .NU, .SE, .TC, .TK, .TW, .TEL, .UK.COM, .US.COM.

We also recommend using Privacy Protection on your business domain names to protect your information from being easily harvested. 

An important thing to note here is that if you plan on using Privacy Protection on your business domain, you need to make sure that you create a strong ‘About Us’ or ‘Contact’ page on your website. This will need to contain far more than just your contact email address and a form. We would suggest a phone number and a regular mailing address, as well as other means of contacting you to gain that trust factor with your customers. 

After all, no one would trust a business that seems to be impossible to contact!

The best-value add-on 

In our humble opinion, Privacy Protection represents one of the greatest value-for-money services that you can add to your business. And by now, you’re probably thinking that it seems like a well-worth investment, but are no doubt a little concerned about the cost.

To put your mind at ease, it is actually very affordable!

Our flat rate Privacy Protection service—operated by privacyprotection.org—used to cost a mere $6.99 a year, which was already cheaper than majority of the competition.

But now, because we believe that it is just that important, we include it at no extra cost to all KartHost customers!

Hassle-free domain name ownership

If you’re looking to set up your new domain name and are concerned about privacy, our expert team is here to help.

We believe that all businesses should be able to build their online presence without fear of their private information being stolen and misused.

(Plus, we really despise aggressive spam marketers.)
Order or Transfer you domain name to KartHost Today. Not sure how to transfer a domain name give us a call. Wouldn’t you feel safer knowing your identity and business information is secure with Privacy Protection?

What is my domain name record showing to the public?

Want to see what your domain name record looks like right now? Here is a great site to see what is on public view to the world. WhoIs Lookup at Domain Tool.

Don’t like what you see? Maybe it’s time to see how KartHost can help.